Palestinian Cleft Society Newsletter

Week of March 25-29, 2012

Patient Care

PCS is creating a dental clinic to provide continuous care. Patients are still being evaluated on an ongoing basis.  On March 25^th, 2012, five patients were evaluated (3 from Hebron, 1 from Jericho, and 1 from Ramallah). Four of these patients have been scheduled to undergo surgery during the May mission.

علاج المرضى

تحرص جمعية فلسطين للشفة الارنية وسقف الحلق المفتوح  على استمراريتها في المتابعة والاهتمام بالمرضى وتقديم افضل العناية، حيث يتم الان التحضير لعيادة الاسنان الخاصة بالجمعية لاستقبال المرضى قريبا. وفي تاريخ 25/3/2012 تم تقييم خمسة حالات حضرت الى الجمعية (3 حالات من الخليل، واحدة من اريحا، وحالة اخرى من رام الله) وقد تم تحديد عمليات جراحية لاربعة منهم خلال البعثة في شهر أيار القادم.

Education

3 students from the Arab American University of Jenin underwent the first phase of training in order to participate in the PCS’ research activities. Eventually, these students will be able to conduct data collection interviews with the mothers of children with clefts and other birth defects in Jenin and Nablus.

التثقيف الصحي

خضعت 3 من طالبات الجامعة العربية الامريكية الى المرحلة الأولى من التدريب والعمل على تمكنهن لاحقا على اجراء المقابلات البحثية وجمع البيانات اللازمة من امهات الاطفال اللذين يعانون من شفة ارنبية وسقف حلق مفتوح.

Research

Twenty-two new and six follow-up interviews were conducted with the mothers of children with birth defects for the PCS cleft database over the past two weeks.

ألأبحاث العلمية

تم اجراء مقابلات بحثية مع 22 حالة جديدة،  وستة حالات تم تجديد بياناتهم مرة اخرى(خلال الاسبوعين الماضيين) مع امهات الاطفال اللذين يعانون من تشوهات خلقية .

Special Thanks

We would like to give a heartfelt thanks to the office of Abu Shuqrah and the Prime Minister’s office for their generous donation of needed supplies to the center.

شكر خاص

نتقدم بجزيل الشكر لمكتبة أبو شقرة ومكتب الرئيس على تبرعها السخي بتوفير الاحتياجات المكتبية للجمعية.

Upcoming Events

Ramallah, Palestine: May 18, 2012 – Luncheon Event – Palestinian providers come together for a lunch event (location  TBA); Chapel Hill, NC (USA): April 28 – May 1, 2012 – May Day Fundraiser – details found here: http://furlowfund.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1017776

أنشطة وفعاليات

فلسطين، رام الله

18/5/2012-حفل افتتاح الجمعية ( لقاء للمتخصصين والمهتمين /حفل غداء،  ومحاضرة علمية)

شابيل هيل، نورث كارولاينا،( الولايات المتحدة الامريكية)

28/4_1/5/2012-حفل خيري لدعم أطفال فلسطين ذوي الشفة الارنبية وسقف الحلق المفتوح، للمزيد من التفاصيل الرجاء الاطلاع والمتابعة على موقعنا الالكتروني الخاص بالجمعية.

http://furlowfund.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1017776

Future Trip

May 16 – May 29th, 2012

Happy New Year to all of you and your families. We still have four months before the next trip to Palestine, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for coming on previous trips, and thank you particularly for coming with us to Palestine from May 16th until the 29^th.  As you’ll remember, on the last trip we went to Jenin (in the northern West Bank) and to Hebron (in the south).  We also hosted a Basic Life Support team from Operation Smile.  These individuals worked in Jenin, Ramallah, and Hebron.

During the upcoming trip, we have planned to form three teams each consisting of an anesthesiologist and CRNA, two surgeons, and a nurse. One team will go to Nablus, another to Ramallah, and the third to Hebron. We are doing this with on-going support from the Palestinian Cleft Society, SmileTrain, and Operation Smile. We hope to have teams of Operation Smile members training Palestinian practitioners in Pediatric Advanced Life Support techniques.

As in previous trips, we’ll do our best to leave together on May 16^th; return is scheduled for May 29^th. We’ll arrive on Thursday the 17^th, travel to Ramallah, and have the Interim Meeting of the Palestinian Cleft Society leadership on Friday the 18^th.  This will give all of the team members a chance to get to know each other, and to be reacquainted with members of PCS.  On Friday afternoon, we’ll leave for the three locations.  The Operation Smile PALS course will start in Ramallah, then go to Nablus, and finish in Hebron.

The Anesthesiologists who are currently coming or potentially coming are Robert Karoukian (San Francisco), Winston Ota (Hawaii), and Janie Magee (UNC, to be determined). The CRNAs coming are Bobby Silvers (UNC), Tim Hatcher (Los Angeles), with the third to be determined. The Nurses coming are Cindy van Aalst (UNC), Emma Marks (UNC), with the third to be determined. The Speech Pathologist coming is Allison Dybdahl (Los Angeles). The Surgeons committed to coming are Libby Wilson (Los Angeles), Ray Harshbarger (Austin, TX), (possibly Ray’s Craniofacial Fellow), Steve Bureau (Calgary, Canada), Don LaRossa (Philadelphia), and John van Aalst (UNC).

We will request two rooms for the entire time of operating at each of the hospitals. We will do Orthognathic Surgery in Nablus and in Ramallah. We’ll do a single Orthognathic case a day in these two locations (with primary emphasis on training local surgeons), in addition to cleft-related cases.  We are currently putting together all of the supplies for the Ortho cases.

Thanks. This will be the first time that we’ve operated in three locations at once. We’ll need to keep in touch with each other during the week in order to provide the safe care that the Palestinian Cleft Society expects of all of us. I look forward to staying in touch about any questions you may have. All the best to you and your families in this great New Year.

John (On behalf of the Palestinian Cleft Society)